A mercenary with a three-bladed sword rediscovers his royal heritage's dangerous future when he is recruited to help a princess foil the designs of a brutal tyrant and a powerful sorcerer in conquering a land.

Philipe Gastone, a thief, escapes from the dungeon at Aquila, sparking a manhunt. He is nearly captured when Captain Navarre befriends him. Navarre has been hunted by the Bishop's men for ... See full summary »

The warrior Deathstalker is tasked by an old witch lady to obtain and unite the three powers of creation - a chalice, an amulet, and a sword - lest the evil magician Munkar get them and use... See full summary »

In this oddball mix of music and drama, an actress (Carole Laure) in a traveling musical revue is involved with the show's director until she meets and falls for an aging ecological ... See full summary »

Storyline

A King has made a pact with a dragon where he sacrfices virgins to it, and the dragon leaves his kingdom alone. An old wizard, and his keen young apprentice volunteer to kill the dragon and attempt to save the next virgin in line - the Kings own daughter. Written by
Colin Tinto <cst@imdb.com>

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

Did You Know?

Trivia

Including the hydraulic 40-foot model, 16 dragon puppets were used for the role of Vermithrax, each made for flying, crawling and breathing fire. See more »

Goofs

In the Paramount Widescreen Collection edition during the lottery scene the man drawing the tiles reads the name "Princess Elspeth Ophelus; Filia Regis". Filia Regis is Latin for "Daughter of the King". The subtitles read differently, instead of Filia Regis it reads "Clearly outrageous". See more »

Quotes

Galen:
[to the Urlanders]
My lord Ulrich is no longer. All that you asked of him, you may now expect of me. The dangers he would face, I will now conquer. The task he would undertake, I will now fulfill. I'm Galen Brandwarden, inheritor of Ulrich's craft and knowledge, and I am the sorcerer you seek.
See more »

User Reviews

Fantasy movies such as this are non-existent these days. Gimme back the days of The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson and the Gremlins. For a family movie this is also very straight-faced too. There is not much humor in it, but that only adds to the overall weird tone.

The story is of a wizard apprentice called Galen (a very young Peter MacNicol) who goes on a quest to slaughter a Dragon terrorizing the people of Urland (Ireland maybe?). There are long moments of quiet and a strange atmosphere brewing around the whole movie. It looks and feels quite unique.

No doubt this is owed a lot to the fabulous widescreen compositions, visual effects that range from not bad to surprisingly good and stunning scenery and locations. Indeed the mood of this film is something I've never come across in a fantasy film. Plus for a film that is rated a simple PG, there was quite a lot of graphic gore, violence and even slight nudity. Surprising, but it adds to the boldness of the production. You would never get a family movie like this these days. I will take Dragonslayer over Harry Potter anytime.

Filmed in Panavision, the 2.35:1 anamorphic picture looks really great in most scenes but in others there is a small problem with the black levels. The soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby 5.1 and it is surely loud and forceful. Unfortunately there are ZERO extras. Which is a shame, because for a film like this, I really want more.

38 of 41 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?